Suit against Sheriff's Office scheduled for settlement conference

MARTINEZ -- A settlement conference has been scheduled in the lawsuit brought against the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office and five deputies by the family of an Oakland man who died in custody at the Martinez Detention Center in October 2012, according to a notice filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday by Judge Joseph C. Spero.

Spero set the conference, which may or may not result in a resolution to the suit, for 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 at the Federal Building in San Francisco.

Donald Ray McCullough, 58, was arrested on suspicion of burglary, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and probation violation at 3 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2012, and taken to the intake area of the county jail. There, he was tased after a fight broke out. McDonald was found unresponsive in his cell two hours later. A coroner's inquest ruled his death an accident.

The complaint by McCullough's family described him as "visibly frail" and suffering from "congestive heart failure, emphysema ... and a herniated disk which required the use of a walker." The family is seeking damages for, among other things, wage loss, funeral expenses, punitive and exemplary damages and attorney's fees.